are we out of the woods yet?
by EllieLovesYou
Summary: It's been a month since the wedding, since she had so drunkenly decided to sleep with Liam Booker. A month since everything had changed and it was all about to get worse because of that drunk, drunk, drunk choice and it was safe to say that Amy despised her drunk self and everything she caused.
1. A Month Later

**Hi! So, if you didn't know, I already posted a story like this but I lost inspiration, there were a lot of plot holes, it was poorly formatted and, personally, I found it poorly written so...I decided to remake it! I'm hoping this will be a little better and whatnot so pls if you read the original and enjoyed it; lemme know and I hope you enjoy this one even more!**

 **A few things though;**

 ***Takes place a month after season one finale  
*Amy wasn't smart and didn't take the morning after pill  
*And the characters might be a little OOC**

 **Now, please, Enjoy!**

Her bed is usually her safe space—she can come home from whatever drama she brought on herself (or Karma brought on her) and just face plant on the mattress and let it all go. It's her safe space.

But it hasn't been her safe space for some time.

A month if she's doing her math right and she's only proved right when her mom and Bruce go out to celebrate being married for a month.

It makes Amy's stomach churn—had it really been a whole month since she slept with Liam on her own bed after her best friend rejected her? It felt longer, constantly feeling like she was lying to Karma made everything just feel… _longer_.

And she couldn't even find solace in her bed because she had slept with Liam in it—she had drunkenly decided that sleeping with him was the right move, that she wanted to hurt Karma like she hurt her and this was the way to do it.

It was safe to say that Amy despised her drunk self.

"What are you doing?" Amy's taken from her inner thoughts at the annoyed tone, she looks up to see Lauren standing in the doorway to living room "I thought you'd be holed up in your room listening to Tegan and Sara or off with your girlfriend" she plops down on the opposite end of the couch and snatches the remote up

"She's not my girlfriend, she's my best friend" Amy mumbles softly, she shifts on the couch and sighs "I just decided that I didn't want to go out"

"Hm" Lauren's clicking through titles on Netflix, only half paying attention to Amy's words "Just don't talk too much—this is my 'me time'"

Amy just nods and doesn't say a word when Lauren clicks on ' _Scrubs'_ and begins playing the first episode.

 **x**

Farrah and Bruce text both girls that they decided to just stay a hotel tonight, to get some more alone together "Jesus" Lauren tosses her phone in the space between them "If they keep splurging out of fucking nowhere, we're gonna be living on the streets"

"They're in love, leave 'em alone"

Lauren raises an eyebrow and pauses the episode; she looks over to Amy and looks her up and down "What happened?"

"What?"

"And, please, don't mistake this as me caring—I just don't want to be around a constantly brooding kinda sister"

Amy glares at her "Nothing is wrong"

"Um, yes there is because the last time you defended your mom and my dad was never"

"I just think that they should enjoy what they have"

"Does this have anything to do with Karma rejecting your ass?"

Amy's back stiffens, she knows that Lauren knows due to some bad timing on her part, but it didn't make the casual references to her heartbreak any easier "No"

"then what is it?"

"Nothing, God, Lauren just play the show" Amy goes from staring at her step-sister to staring at the TV. Lauren looks at Amy and squints

"Whatever" she presses play and the TV fills in the noise.

 **x**

The doorbell rings an hour or so later, Lauren gets up to get it and comes back with a pizza "Farrah and Daddy ordered it" she places it on the coffee table in front of her "I'm gonna get a plate" she turns on her heel and is out of the room in a second.

Amy reaches over to just grab a slice and then the scent finally hits her, her stomach twists and turns and her she feels the few things she ate throughout the day coming back up. Flying off the couch she runs to the downstairs bathroom and throws the seat up, and then emptying her stomach into the bowl.

She stays positioned over the toilet and waits to even think about moving till she's done dry heaving "Ew" she raises her head and looks over to see Lauren's pinched up face "Are you sick? Cause I can't get sick"

"No, I'm not sick" she snipes out, sitting against the toilet "I just—didn't feel good"

"Sick"

"I'm not sick, Lauren"

"Whatever, just don't come too close I have a test I can't miss" and with that little quip, she's out of the doorway leaving Amy with her thoughts and the vomit in the toilet.

 **x**

The rest of the night goes relatively easy—Amy feels fine, a little nauseous sure, but not enough to stop her from eating three slices of pizza and Lauren doesn't say anything catty (she can feel Lauren staring at her, but as long as she doesn't say anything, Amy's fine)

"You know" Lauren's voice is weird, Amy looks over and see the blonde's eyes glued to the screen "I think I want to watch another episode" the taller blonde looks the screen to see her jumping to the sixth season "You don't mind, right?"

Amy's brow furrows "No I don't mind, I've seen them all already"

"Great!" Lauren says a bit too enthusiastically and quickly presses play on the episode called ' _My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby'—_ basically just a lot of pregnancy. Amy doesn't say anything and just enjoys the episode but she can feel Lauren's eyes on her but she still doesn't say anything.

It's some time in when Turk gets his hand stuck in the ice machine that Amy has about just enough "Okay, what?" her eyes snap to Lauren "What is going on?"

"Nothing"

"Bullshi—"

"Just watch the show Amy"

"But—"

"Sh!"

Amy just sighs.

 **x**

The episode is just about done when the doorbell rings, Lauren jumps up from the couch and almost trips over her own feet to get to the door quick enough. She hears a few mumbled words and then the door is being shut "Lauren who was—"

"Here" the small blonde throws a bag at her "I was hoping that maybe I could get to you through TV being that's all you watch but you're an idiot so.."

Amy's face pinches up "What in the fuck are you even talk—" her words are cut short when she finally gets the bag open. She reaches in and pulls out a box. A pregnancy test box "Lauren…"

"Amy I know you slept with Liam, okay?" her voice in soft, something Amy hadn't heard too often "And this, just trust me on this"

"Lauren, I'm not pregnant" her voice shakes a little because—holy shit—she did miss her period but she didn't think anything of it. She was stressed and not eating the best, she chalked it up to nothing more than bad times.

"Then take it. Just to put my mind to ease" her arms are crossed over her chest and she can see the fear and realization in Amy's eyes.

"It's a waste of time"

"Take it"

"But—"

"Amy, take it"

The taller blonde sighs heavily, stands up and looks at the little box in her hand (she just now noticed that she's shaking) "Okay"

She disappears into the bathroom and twenty minutes later, she hasn't come out. Lauren walks over to the door and knock softly "Amy?" nothing "Amy"

"I, um—" her voice makes Lauren release a breath she didn't know she was holding "I can't move" she notices how small her voice is "The door is open"

Lauren pushes the door open and sighs at the sight in front of her; Amy's back is pressed against the toilet and the test is sitting on floor in front of her but even from here she can see the pink lines that decided Amy's fate.

"Oh"

"Yeah"

Lauren slowly moves and sits down next to Amy "I was hoping it'd be negative"

"Me too"

"Amy—"

"Oh god" she looks over to see Amy's face, her eyes are wide and shiny and she can see her hands shaking "I—Oh my god"

Lauren, for the first time in their relationship, reaches over and wraps her arm around Amy's shoulders and pulls her close and as soon as Amy is cradled safely in her step-sister's arms she lets out a loud, gut wrenching sob.

Because she's pregnant. Pregnant with Liam Booker's baby and nothing is going to be right after this moment.

 **I hope you liked it! Pls comment and leave me your thoughts, suggestions, and anything else. You can also hit me up on tumblr at .com**


	2. Being Sure

**Biggest question I got; Is Reagan going to be in this? The answer? I don't know. When I decided to remake this story it was because I was reading over the original and I didn't like it so there might be very few things in common with the original. And Reagan might make an appearance, she might now—I don't know, okay? I just hope you'll stick with me through this rocky road.**

Lauren's not sure what do to.

Amy's pregnant. Amy is carrying a child. A child she made with Liam Booker. The boyfriend, maybe ex, of her best friend. They made a baby together.

The blonde goes over it a hundred different ways but it all comes down to one thing; there's a baby currently growing in her step-sister.

She looks over at Amy who is buried under a mountain of blankets on Lauren's bed. She had straight up refused to go to her own bed and, on some level, Lauren got that she understood that Amy didn't want to go the bed that had held the very memory Liam Booker on top of her, so she didn't fight her. Instead she just led her to her own bed and threw some blankets over her and held her hand till the sobbing became sniffles and the sniffles became snores.

Now she sits at the edge of her own bed with too many thoughts rushing through her head, like, what the hell is Amy going to do?

Would Farrah kick her out? Would Liam want the baby? And Karma—well, would Karma even look in Amy's direction after this. Because isn't that the biggest question at the moment? What would Karma do when she found out about this, not only the sex but _the baby_.

She spares a look to Amy and lets out a deep sigh; this girl was, in every sense of the word, fucked.

 **x**

Amy slowly comes to consciences and it takes a good few seconds for her to actually remember where she was because her blankets sure as hell didn't smell this fruity and her phone didn't blast classical music when it was trying to wake her up.

And then it comes back to her, all in a rush, Scrubs, the pizza, the test and then the crying, God, the crying. She slowly sits up and looks around the room till her eyes land on Lauren who's sitting in front of her vanity putting on her make-up.

"Get ready" she says not even looking at Amy, instead focusing on her mascara "Farrah says we have to leave asap"

The blonde nods wordlessly and pushes the covers off her and she's about to twist the knob when Lauren speaks again "Oh and after lunch we're skipping"

"What?" her brow furrows together

"Well, I'd say just fake sick and we would skip the whole day but I have a big test I can't miss in one of my morning classes"

Amy shakes her head "But why are we skipping?"

"Because"

"Because why?"

Lauren let out a deep sigh and turned to Amy "Because Amy, as far as we know you're pregnant" Amy's stomach churned, she was kinda hoping that Lauren would forget that ever happened "And we need to make sure this isn't some awful drug store pregnancy false positive things"

"I—" Amy swallowed her words and nodded "Okay"

"Okay" the smaller blonde turned back towards the mirror "Now, kindly, get the fuck out of my room and go get dressed"

 **x**

Amy felt like a zombie the first half of the day because all she could think was; baby, baby, Liam Booker, baby, Karma, baby. It was an endless cycle of guilt, annoyance and, just plain old, _suck_.

"Hey, I've been looking for you all day" Karma's voice snaps her out of her daze and makes her back stiffen "Where have you been?" she knocks Amy's hip with her own, it was a friendly gesture and question but it knocked Amy's thought process off balance.

"Oh, just um—you know, school" she wants to slap her own face at that—why the fuck would she say that? Oh, that's right, because she's a dumbass.

Karma raises an eyebrow "Yeah, okay. Anyways I was thinking during our study period that maybe you could try and help me finish that history project"

"You mean the history project that's completely yours and not mine at all?"

Karma flashes a smile "Yeah, that's the one"

"I'm sorry, I can't"

The shorter girl pouts "Why not?"

"I, um, I'm not gonna be here after lunch" Amy gnaws on her lip and prays for very little questions because, really, her lying skills weren't great so her lying to Karma skills were even worse.

"Why?"

"I, um, have a doctor's appointment"

"Is something wrong?" the blonde wants hide and run away because of the concern in Karma's voice.

"No, no just some stuff"

Karma raises a brow and stops in the middle of the courtyard "Stuff?"

"Yeah, Stuff"

"Amy…"

"What?"

"You're lying"

Amy crosses her arms "Am not"

"Are to"

Am not"

"are to"

Amy opened her mouth to continue what was sure to be a long battle but is saved by her small, blonde step-sister "Oh, hey, lesbos" she locks her arm with Amy's as if she's done it hundred times before this moment

"Lauren, if you don't mind I was talking to Amy"

"Hm, here's the thing, hippie, I do mind" she turns to the girl on her arm "Now that, um, thing has been moved up so we're leaving now"

"But—"

"Now" she yanks Amy's arm and, wow, she didn't know Lauren was this strong. They're a few feet away from Karma when Amy turns around and looks to her

"Bye, I'll call you later!"

Karma sighs and waves weakly "Yeah, bye"

 **x**

They both climb into Lauren's beetle silently and, that, Amy is grateful for. Lauren starts the car with ease and hauls ass out of the school's parking lot, she flips on the radio to some main stream radio station that spews all the latest hits and doesn't even glance in Amy's direction.

Amy, after 20 minutes of nothing but the Weeknd, Taylor Swift and some band she doesn't the know the name of, sighs and flips the radio off "So how was your day?"

Lauren briefly glances at Amy "What are you doing?"

"Making conversation"

"Why?"

"Because if I hear one more song from that station—I might just throw myself out of the car"

Lauren sighs heavily and stops the car as they come to a red-light "My day was fine" it was obvious she was just appeasing Amy this one time because, really, it was Amy's life that was about to be more than fucked "My test was a little harder than I expected but I have no doubt in my mind that I passed with flying colors"

Amy nods "That's good" she looks down at her hands and slowly picks at the nail polish that Karma had put on her a few days ago "Lauren?"

"Hm?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"I feel like even if I say 'no', you'll still go for it"

"When did you find out?" a pause "About Liam, I mean? And why didn't you say anything?"

Lauren lets out a heavy sigh, she wishes she wasn't driving, "I was, believe it or not, concerned about you after the wedding. I could see that Karma rejecting you did some pretty good damage and, well, you were kinda downing the champagne like it was apple juice"

Amy scoffs a little "yeah"

"And when you disappeared for a while, I got worried because you were drunk and heartbroken and I really didn't want to find you passed out in a puddle of your own vomit so I went to check on you and—well—"

"I was in bed. With Liam" Amy supplies

"Yeah"

"And you didn't stop it?"

Lauren shifts in her seat as they pull up to another red light "I was going to but—how do I put this gently—you and he were going at it pretty hard and when I say hard I mean—"

Amy's face twists and she waves her hand "Yeah that's enough"

"Yeah, so I didn't exactly feel like it was a good idea to go and step in"

Amy sighs "Thanks for not telling anyone"

"well, I was waiting for the perfect moment to reveal it and use it as blackmail but the whole baby thing kinda puts a damper on it"

 **x**

They go all the way the Dallas. Lauren insists that it's the only way to make sure no one, they know, sees them and this little secret remains just that, a secret. Lauren goes and checks Amy in while the other blonde takes a seat.

Amy looks around the waiting room and shifts in her seat uncomfortably—there were women who were so far along their bellies weren't all the way covered, children covered in something and the walls were covered in pictures of babies.

It all made Amy's stomach twist.

"You okay?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Cause you look like you're about to hurl"

Amy shakes her head "Just—just can't believe this is happening" the disbelief in Amy's voice makes it all clear that this is not something she wanted to deal with

Lauren just sighs, nods, pats Amy's knee and leans back into her chair and picks up a magazine that looks like it's from the early 2000's.

Time ticks by slowly till 30 minutes and two magazines have passed and suddenly a "Miss Raudenfled?" fills the room. Amy's head snaps up and Lauren is already up smoothing out any wrinkles in her dress, Amy quickly follows her lead and gets up.

They both follow the nurse to a room, she leads Amy and Lauren in and smiles at them kindly "Please sit there" Amy shifts on her feet for a second before she climbs onto the table, her feet hanging off the table.

The nurse asks the blonde a few questions, writes them all down, has Amy piss in a cup and then flashes a polite smile at the and departs with a simple "The doctor will be with you shortly"

As soon at the door clocks shut, Amy lets out a heavy sigh "Jesus Christ"

"You okay?"

"No, no" she shakes her head "I'm so past 'not okay', like, I don't even know what I am anymore"

"Amy, take a breath"

"How can I?! Lauren, I'm 16, I'm a sophomore in high school, God, if I'm pregnant this baby will be the lovechild of a sexually confused girl and a man whore"

Lauren's eyes soften and she moves to Amy's side, the blonde grips Amy's shoulder "You don't have to have this baby, Amy. You should only be about a month along—no one has to know and we can just be done with it"

"—Lauren, I'm scared" she looks down at her lap "I'm so fucking scared"

Lauren opens her mouth to reply but the door swings open and a cheery brunette doctor walks through the door "Good afternoon, Miss Raudenfeld"

"hi" Amy straightens her back and Lauren takes a step back

"Okay, so, we're here to see if you're gonna be a mama, right?"

"I, um, yeah"

"Okie-dokie, let's get down to it" she sits down on a rolling chair and looks down at the clipboard in her hand "Well, Amy you are pregnant" Amy feels like she's going to pass out and Lauren must've sensed it because within the second Lauren's hand is gripping her own "Do you know how far along you are?"

"I—I, um"

"Four weeks" Lauren doesn't remove her hand from Amy's once, as she moves closer "It was four weeks ago"

"Okay, so a month" the doctor sucks in a breath and looks at Amy "Sweetheart, you know your choices right?"

"I—" she spares a look to Lauren "Yeah, I know"

"Good" the doctor sends them both a kind smile "Well, I urge you to come back should you decide having this baby is a good idea, hm? Just in another month so we can check up on your health and fetus' development"

Lauren nods "Thank you"

"Good luck" with that she leaves them alone and Amy feels her whole body relax and her eyes burn—she couldn't properly break down with a stranger in the room.

 **x**

The car is strangely quiet as they make the ride back home. Amy has her head pressed against the window and Lauren refuses to turn to radio on—"Amy?"

"Hm?"

"I, um," Lauren lets out a deep sigh "Do you want to get rid of it?"

Amy wants to laugh, she really does. Lauren, a girl she just started getting along with, is asking her if she wants to abort the fetus she is currently housing in her uterus but it comes out sounding like a whimper

"I don't know"

Lauren reaches over without taking her eyes off the road and grips Amy's hand "We can come back to Dallas to get it down or we could go to Fort Worth, if you want"

"I don't know if I wanna get rid of it"

"That's okay too"

"Is it?"

"Yes. No one can force you to get rid of this baby just like no one can force you to keep it."

"I want to talk to Liam"

It was moments like this that Lauren is so, oh so, grateful that she has great self-control (most times) because she could've swerved off the god damn road after Amy's words let her mouth.

"What?"

"I just—this is his baby too and I know, in the end, it's my choice but I should—I should at least know if he would be there, right?"

"Amy—"

"I just need to talk to him"

Lauren knows she isn't asking for permission, she's just telling her what she's going to do so Lauren just squeezes Amy's hand and nods "Okay"

 **Pls review and lemme know what you think! Your reviews mean the world to me and, believe it or not, do influence this story.**


	3. Ripping Off the Band-Aid

**So, just, I don't have much to say other than try to not compare this story to the original. I loved the original, it was like my first real story that I published but I felt like it needed to be changed. This is going to be completely different—pairings are probably going to change, how some characters feel might change and, just, this is just a different story with the same basic concept. So, please, try to not compare—if you don't like this version then okay, I get it but please try to not put down what I'm putting out now. Thank you. Now, please, enjoy!**

They eventually pull up to their home around seven o'clock—both Farrah and Bruce's cars were in the driveway and neither girl was looking forward to going inside and receiving a lecture that was sure to be waiting for them.

"How am I supposed to act normal?" Amy's voice startles Lauren being the girl had refused to talk the last hour of the trip home "I'm pregnant and I'm just supposed to go in there and act normal? Like I didn't just find out that—that there's a fucking baby in me"

"Just be your usual sarcastic asshole self" the shorter blonde lets out a deep sigh "That and avoid any and all interaction with Farrah"

"Sounds simple enough" Amy hops out of Lauren's car and starts down the street, away from the house. Lauren jumps out of the car and yells after her

"Where the hell are you going?"

"I said I had to talk to Liam and I just don't see how me talking to him at school is a good idea so here we go"

"Amy, don't you think you should wait?" Amy stops in her tracks and looks at Lauren "You're not in the right frame of mind and once he knows, he knows. He can't unknow it"

She waits for a second, sucks in a breath and looks at her step-sister "He deserves to know, and right frame of mind or not—I need to tell him"

"But can't it be later?"

Amy shakes her head "No. I wanna do it now" and with that she turns on her heel and starts down the street

"Amy—"

"Just tell my mom I'm at Karma's and I'll be home late!" the blonde yells over her shoulder

Lauren huffs and heads for the house—Amy's lucky that she kinda likes her now.

 **x**

Amy's on her third lap around the neighborhood when she finally summons up the courage to pull her phone out of her pocket. She unlocks it and goes to her contacts, her finger hovers over his name for a second—she's scared to tell him, if she's being honest. She doesn't know how he will react and the uncertainty makes her queasy. It adds even more fear in this shitty cocktail of feelings she has going on in the pit of her stomach but she swallows her fear and presses 'call'.

She brings the phone up to her ear and swallows hard at hearing that first ring and each one after feels like a knot in her stomach. It rings four times before he answers "Hello?"

"We need to talk _now_ " straight to the point, the way it needs to be

"Why?"

"Because" Amy looks at her feet and kicks a loose rock off of the sidewalk, anything to distract herself from the current conversation "Because something's happened and, just—" she sighs "I need to talk to you"

He must hear the desperation in her voice because he says "Okay, where do you wanna meet?"

 **x**

He picks her up at the end of her street and they go to some diner about ten minutes away. They sit down at the nearest booth and when the waitress walks over to them and asks them what they would like to drink, they both just say 'water'. She comes back and puts them on the table and walks away. Neither of them speak for a few minutes before Liam sighs "Amy, what happened? Is it with Karma or..?"

"No, no" she shakes her head "This has nothing to do with Karma" a pause "Kinda"

"Kinda" he parrots

"Just—" she takes a big gulp of water from the glass the waitress had put on the table, as she tries to push the words that are stuck in her throat out "God how do I even start this conversation?"

He's officially worried because, Amy, as long as he has known her, which to be fair isn't long, never beat around the bush. At least not with him, he figures it has something to do with not liking him "Amy?"

"Like, you run through the conversation a hundred different times in your head, just go over it and over it and over it but now it's finally here and there's no way to start it. There's no way to just go about saying what you need to say because—" she's babbling and he doesn't seem to think it's going to stop anytime soon so he reaches forward and grabs her hand and he lets out a firm;

"Amy"

And then she just kinda blurts out; "I'm pregnant" like all the ways she could've said it slip from her mind and the only thing her feeble brain can think of in the moment is the bluntest to put it.

He pulls his hand away and then there's a silence.

"Liam?"

"I—" he looks like he might be having a heart attack "You're pregnant?"

She nods "Yeah"

"And I'm the—"

"Yeah"

"Wow"

"Yeah"

He runs his hand over his face and lets out a deep breath; he wrings his hands together and looks at the blonde sitting in front of him "Did you wanna, you know" he takes a breath "Abort it?" he whispers it like he just said the worst possible thing in the world and she isn't sure it's because he doesn't want her to abort it or because he's afraid she'd be offended he would even think of something like that

"I don't know. It's been brought up once or twice but—I just don't know right now"

He nods "How long have you known?"

"I took test last night and Lauren was kind enough to find a doctor who would take me today" Amy sighs "They just confirmed what the test told me"

"Lauren?"

"Yeah, shocker, I know"

"I can only assume you haven't told Karma, right?"

She nods "yeah"

"This is—"

"Crazy? I know"

Liam shakes his head a little "Like—" he lets out a humorless laugh "This is absolutely insane. We—you're—"

"I know"

"Fuck"

"Yeah"

"Look, I—" he runs a hand through his hair "If you wanna, you know, then do it but if you wanna keep it then—"

"Then?" Amy won't lie—the biggest deciding factor for her would be whether or not Liam would say he'd be there because she can't do this on her own. Logically, she knows she wouldn't do it on her own—she'd have Lauren, at least, maybe Shane and her mom. But this is different, he helped make this baby and if was about to say 'then I don't want anything to do with it' then she would probably ask Lauren to schedule an abortion in Dallas.

"Then I'll be there. I won't be my mom and just hand them off—I'll be there"

Amy nods "Good to know" her head lolls to the side and she looks at him, long and hard "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure"

"Do you want it? Like would you rather me keep it?"

He sucks in a breath and he looks at his hands "Can I be honest?"

"Please"

"I want you to keep it—I feel like, maybe, this is the good thing that comes out of all the bad that happened this year" a beat "But if you feel different, then you work on those instincts—I don't have to carry it, you do"

"Yeah. I do" Amy buries her face in her hands "This is all too fucked up"

"Yeah"

 **x**

Amy texts Lauren to come pick her up, the idea of being in a car with Liam after this seems a little weird especially after what was the most awkward dinner ever so she texts Lauren who responds with 'fuck you' and then 'ill be there in 10'

"I just—" they're standing outside the diner and Amy's arms are wrapped around herself and Liam has his hands tucked into his pockets "Just let me know when you decide"

"You'll be the first to know"

"How do you think your mom's gonna take it?"

Amy scoffs "That's not something I want to think about" she looks over at him "What about your mom?"

He looks down at his shoes "It's complicated"

"Yeah, it always is"

They stand in silence for five minutes before Lauren's beetle pulls up, Amy looks at him and smiles weakly "I will, um, see you tomorrow" she starts for the car but his voice stops her

"Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"I—thanks for telling me"

She nods "No problem" she climbs into Lauren's car and they pull out of the parking lot.

 **x**

"So do I need to beat his ass or what?"

"No"

"He was okay with it or what? C'mon, you have to give me the details—I live for the details"

Amy looks over at her "You sure you and Shane weren't separated at birth?"

"I will kick you out of this car"

She puts her hands up "Sorry, sorry" a beat "But it was okay. I babbled for it bit, and then kinda spit it out. He was stunned but said if I want an abortion then I should get one"

"And if you don't?"

"then he'll be there"

Lauren lets out a hum "So—are you gonna keep it?"

Amy knows her answer in the moment but decides to go with an 'I don't know' and sleep on it to see if her mind would change.

 **x**

Her mom yells but only a little about being late and not telling her anything but she's quick to forgive and just send Amy up to her room. The blonde face plants on the mattress and lets out a deep breath, within the past two days her world has been thrown off its axis and she's just left to deal with it.

She buries her nose in her blanket and her mind drifts to Karma—oh Karma—her best friend in the entire world, her soulmate, her Karma.

Amy's heart clenches and her stomach twists, none of them deserved this—the pain that this would bring on them.

Liam, while he could be douche-y, didn't deserve this, Karma, who always has the best intentions but not always the right executions, didn't deserve this and Amy sure as hell didn't either. She just fell for her best friend. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Stop thinking so loud" her eyes snap open and Lauren's standing there in all her pink nightgown glory "I can hear you from my room"

"Sorry" Amy mumbles "Can't help it"

"Well, let me try and help" Lauren walks over and stands right in front of Amy "Karma doesn't matter in this equation so stop thinking about her"

"Lauren—"

"Look, I get it. She's your best friend, soulmate or whatever bullshit you call it but, right now, this baby is just your and Liam's business. Hell, it's not even mine so it's _definitely_ not Karma's"

"She's going to be affected by this" Amy says easily because, out of everyone who is going to be affected by this, she's worried about Karma the most. Not herself, not Liam and not her parents but Karma.

"I never said she wasn't going to be but this baby—the decision you have to make right now about whether or not you want it—it's not something she needs to be involved in"

"What about after though? What about the whole aftermath? The pregnancy? The belly? _The baby_?"

"We think about it later. Not now" she walks to the door "Choose your battles, Amy" she yells over her shoulder and with that she closes the bathroom door behind her.

Amy nods and throws herself back down on her pillows and blankets "Choose your battles" she mumbles to herself, she flips over and lies on her stomach "Choose your battles"

Her phone goes off and she reaches over to see a text from Karma asking how her doctor's appointment went—and her stomach twists.

And then she was faced with the fact that that was the only battle she was likely to lose.

 **Please review—hearing back from you means the actual world! Last chapter, I got a review and they told me a line that made them laugh and it made me smile so hard—reviewing is honestly just the best! :)**


	4. Late Lunch

_**Okay so my updating is gonna be a little less frequent cause I'm back in school and, so, my time is being cut a little short. Anyways thank you for your reviews and please enjoy!**_

The loud blaring of her alarm clock makes her eyes snap open and her body stills—there's a moment when she first wakes up that she's able to forget. She's able to forget the baby, Liam, Karma, everything—she was just able to forget and, for a few peaceful seconds, her life was uncomplicated, boring and, above all, drama free.

She hears her step-sister's music drift in from her room, she hears her mother's humming and her step-father's heavy footfalls as he walks around the house, getting ready. A fairly normal day in the Cooper-Raudenfeld home and there's an odd sense of peace that comes with it.

And then it all washes over her like the world's suckiest wave (wave of nausea, that is) and she rushes to her and Lauren's conjoined bathroom and dumps the contents of her stomach into the toilet. And as she stays there—crouched in front of her toilet, her forehead pressed against the cool porcelain—that's when she remembers the baby, Liam, Karma and everything else.

"Might wanna keep it down" Lauren's voice makes her jump, she looks up to see her step-sister causally leaning against the doorway—she doesn't even remember hearing that door open "If Farrah hears you, she'll ask you what's wrong and then, because you're you, you'll crack under the pressure and spill your guts"

Amy lets out a loud groan as the smell of her mother's breakfast feast makes its way upstairs and settles right under her nose. She hovers over the toilet again and starts to dry heave

"Amy" Lauren's voice is softer than what it was before and she feels the blonde's hand on her shoulder "I'll go tell Farrah you aren't feeling well, stay home"

"No" it's the first time Amy's spoken this fine morning, she whips up and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand "You said it yourself—she'll ask questions"

"Yeah, I know but you won't be doing the answering" Amy raised her brow at her step-sister "Just climb back into bed, and either pretend to go to sleep or actually go to sleep then I'll just say you woke up feeling sick so I sent you back to bed. She won't be able to pester you and you get a day off—no muss, no fuss"

Amy can't help but smile "Thanks"

"No problem preggo the lesbo, now get your ass into bed" and with that lovely nickname and soft order Amy does as told. She climbs back into bed, throws the covers over her head and shuts her eyes praying for sleep to come quickly.

 **x**

Her eyes crack open this time due to her phone going off—she reaches out blindly and grasps the offending object. Her screen is lit up with messages from Karma, Shane and even a few from Liam.

Karma's are fairly simple—where are you? Are you okay? If you're asleep, just text me when you wake up.

Shane's are, for them most part, the same. Asking where she was and if she was okay but Shane's texts didn't stop coming in—every ten minutes or so, there'd be a new one.

Two were from Liam and they were sweet enough; Are you okay? Can you please let me know if you're okay when you can?

Amy sighs and taps out a response to Karma stating she was sick but she should be fine by tomorrow, the same thing to Shane. She simply typed out 'morning sickness' to Liam and left it at that.

Swinging her feet over the edge of her bed, she slowly padded to the bathroom and let out a heavy sigh; how was this supposed to work? The blonde was left confused and annoyed at the fact that she's supposed to hide this as long as she could but her constant state of needing to throw up was already making that more difficult than it needed to be.

"Oh look who finally woke up" Amy jumps at Lauren's voice, she looks over to see the bathroom door open and Lauren sitting on her bed with her laptop on her lap "Was wondering when you'd decide to join the land of the living"

"Is it really that late?" she hadn't bothered to look at the time when she was tapping out messages

"Amy, it's noon"

"That's not so bad"

Lauren scoffs "Yeah, okay"

Amy slowly walks into Lauren's room, not wanting to overstep any boundaries. Yes, Lauren has been nothing but supportive and, yes, she was basically Amy's support system all on her own since Liam has had a day to adjust to the news that he was going to be a father but their relationship had rapidly shifted since the wedding and the last two days. They were still getting a feel for what was okay and what wasn't so as she stepped into Lauren's room—she did so with caution.

"What are you doing here anyways?"

Lauren doesn't remove her eyes from the screen of her laptop "Farrah insisted I stay home to take care of you"

"Oh" she walks over to the bed and sits on the edge; it doesn't seem to startle Lauren so she relaxes

"Yeah, oh, and I was doing a little research and—" she turns her screen to face Amy "There's a lot we need to do" Amy's eyes quickly flit over the screen and all she can gather is Lauren is possibly the most organized person she's ever met "But first things first" she closes her laptop and locks eyes with Amy "what do you want to do with the baby?"

Amy sighs and looks down—she had her mind made up last night, she slept on it and it still feels right but she doesn't want someone to say she picked wrong. She doesn't want someone telling her that and making her doubt her decision "I—I want to keep it"

A look of happiness passes over Lauren's face before she nods and her face seems to go back to normal "Okay, cool" she opens her laptop and lets out a little sigh "I'm gonna be an aunt"

And that was that.

 **x**

Lauren was serious about planning—the blonde and droned on and on and on about prenatal pills, yoga classes and books. She already set up an appointment for next month, and how they were gonna have to stock up on ginger ale and crackers to help with Amy's nausea. She spoke of a gender reveal and even names but that's when Amy stopped her

"Okay, Lauren" the girl looked up at her "This thing is still probably the size of a jellybean, maybe we should wait a minute before we even think about names"

"But Amy, we can't go through the next four months just calling it an 'it'"

Amy sighs "Fine but if were gonna talk about this—I need food in my system. It's been a solid eight hours since I've eaten"

The shorter blonde nodded and closed her laptop "you're right, you need food" she climbed out of bed and it shouldn't surprise Amy, but it does, that she's already dressed "We can go to that diner I picked you up at last night"

"Yeah, okay"

"And we can ask Liam to meet us there"

"Yea—wait, what?" her nose screwed up "Why would we do that?"

"Because he's the father of this child and I'm not doing this planning all on my own" she plucked her purse from her desk "Now, hurry and go get dressed"

Amy does as told but sticks with the topic of planning "I can help you know—this is my baby" the words made her stomach twist but she opts to ignore it, she's just trying to make a point to Lauren right now and she doesn't need the extra stress of having to dwell on her own words.

"No, you aren't gonna help because if you helped, this child would probably be named Karma and have nothing but clothes with food on it"

Amy, despite herself, laughs "You say that like it's a bad thing"

 **x**

Lauren does the inviting of Liam Booker;

 _Can you skip and meet Amy and I at the diner from last night?_

It's not hard to believe that Lauren Cooper doesn't believe in text talking—she likes grammar and spelling out the full word.

 _Is everything okay?_

Lauren feels a certain amount of pity for Liam, she knows he can be a douche and the whole reason he wanted to get with Karma in the first place was fucked and sleeping with Amy was even worse but she can't help but pity the guy. He got a girl knocked up, and while she doesn't know his home life, it's probably not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows when he tells them and then you have the fact that he and Amy were never really friends but now they're gonna have a baby together.

 _Peachy. We were just gonna have a late lunch and see if you wanted to join us being that you're the father of Amy's unborn child_

She hopes that he knows to delete these messages.

 _Yeah I can be there in ten_

With that Lauren closes out of the conversation and peeks her head into Amy's room "Baby daddy will be joining us"

 **x**

Lauren and Amy get to the tiny little diner before Liam; the hostess sits them down and asks what they want to drink. Lauren says water and Amy's about halfway through the word 'coffee' when Lauren cuts her off

"She'll have water as well"

The waitress looks at Amy and Amy looks at Lauren who simply sends her a hard stare. Amy sighs "Yeah, yeah water is fine" the waitress walks away and Amy sighs "Why can't I have coffee?"

"Coffee has caffeine, caffeine is a drug—no drugs while pregnant, Amy" Lauren doesn't even remove her eyes from the menu

"But—"

"Nope"

"Lauren a _little_ can't be that bad"

The blonde pauses, looks at Amy, and then looks back at the menu "I'll think about it"

"I'm not a child—"

"I said 'I'll think about it'"

Amy pouts and crosses her arms over her chest, Lauren's eyes flit up from a second and she snorts "Tell me again how you aren't a child"

 **x**

Liam gets there right after they waitress brings the drinks, he opts to sit next to Amy "Hey"

"Hey" Amy says quietly.

A few awkward and tense minutes pass before Lauren sighs and places her menu down "Okay, I'm not doing this for the next 18 years of my life—Liam you got her pregnant" she looks to Amy "Amy you are pregnant with his child. You two cannot be awkward with each other for the rest of your lives if you plan to keep this baby"

"Wait" Liam looks to Amy "You're keeping it?"

"I mean, it feels right and like you said; it's the one good thing to come out of all of this"

Liam smiles brightly and so does Amy and Lauren smiles a little herself "See" they both look to Lauren "Progress"

 **x**

The lunch isn't so bad. Lauren does babble on and on about the baby and everything that was going to come with getting ready for its arrival and raising it. Liam asks questions, much to Amy's surprise and Lauren is more than happy to answer them and before they know it, its two hours later.

"Okay so you can _eat_ the placenta?" Liam sounds absolutely fascinated and Lauren nods eagerly

"Yes, well, Amy can"

"Like how does that work—do they cook it?"

"Some do but she can have it encapsulated" how they are having this conversation so causally is boggling Amy's mind—they literally found out two days ago that she was pregnant.

"Wow that is so—"

Amy swallows a bit of her food, an apple pie because they've been here forever and Amy wanted dessert "So not happening"

"What?" Lauren sighs "Why not?"

"Because I'm not eating my placenta" her nose scrunches up "It's weird"

"Is not—Amy there are so many health benefits to it"

Amy sighs at Lauren's pout, and her wide begging eyes "I'll think about it"

"Amy—"

"I said 'I'll think about it'"

 **x**

They leave after Amy's finishes her pie (it's more Amy has to nearly drag Lauren to the car because her and Liam and so engrossed in their baby conversation, which is still really weird) they pile into the car and Amy lets out a deep sigh "Thank you"

Lauren's brow rises "For?"

"Being there" she looks over at Lauren "And not being a complete bitch about the whole thing"

She simply shrugs as she starts the car "I figure this is the one time I would let up on you"

Amy couldn't be more grateful.

 _ **I don't like updating if the chapter is shorter than 2,000 words and it's only about hundred words over that so I hope that's okay! Anyways—please review and lemme know what you think!**_


	5. trying to be friends

_**All mistakes are mine. Also about the ship thing—I have narrowed it down to two ships (one I am majorly favoring at the moment) and I will let you know when I finally decide but it might take a few more chapters so I can really cement my decision! Thank you now please enjoy!**_

Two weeks passed, two agonizingly long weeks in Amy's opinion because _wow_ keeping this thing a secret is a lot fucking harder than she thought it would be, before a certain flamboyant, self-absorbed, kind of best friend of Amy's noticed something.

(yes, she's talking about Shane)

She and Liam were talking—something else that was becoming quite frequent—when the boy rounded the corner and crashed in on their conversation "Ooo, what's got you two talking? Karma come up with another shit idea?" his eyebrows waggle and he's smiling brightly and it's quite clear he's ready to be let in on whatever was just being said.

Amy sighs and crosses her arms over her chest, and swallows back an insult that sits on her tongue (maybe she's been hanging around Lauren too much) "Nope I was just asking Liam if he, um, got the homework from—from English" it's a simple enough lie, nothing too big that could give them away but she sees it . She sees the eyebrow rise and she knows she's fucked because this boy can smell gossip from a mile away and this, a pregnancy that was the result of two people who were heartbroken, one who happened to be half of Hester's favorite couple, sleeping together was the story of the year.

And he could smell it.

"Really?" his tone isn't accusing or bored, just somewhere right in the middle and it made both Liam and Amy nervous "Why not ask Karma? I mean, no offense Liam I love you, but it's not like you two are friends"

Liam answers before Amy does which is probably a good idea because she was about to say that Karma wasn't here and Karma was very much here, Shane saw her speaking to said girl earlier and that lie wouldn't have held.

"We're working on forging a friendship" he's smiling and looks to Amy for support in this sentence and all Amy can do is scrunch her face up because what the fuck?

 _She_ knows it's true, _she_ knows that they trying to conjure up any kind of relationship within the next nine months so this baby isn't completely fucked when it's born, but Shane doesn't have even the slightest idea as to _why_ they would try and be friends. It's a completely out there idea to be people who don't know of Amy and Liam's current situation. So basically everyone that isn't Lauren.

"What?" yeah, and that made it pretty clear that Shane's just as confused as she thought he would be.

"I, um—" Liam spares a look to Amy and she can see he's panicking. This guy, for whatever reason, didn't like lying. Okay so Amy gets it but at a certain point, there' s just no choice but Liam must have some deep seeded issues with lying if telling a simple white lie to Shane is making him stutter and look to Amy, of all people, for help.

"We felt that it was time to bury the hatchet" Shane doesn't believe her, she can see it "I mean, everyone is friendly—me and Karma, Liam and Karma, Lauren and I and even you and Lauren so, I mean, it's just time, right?"

Shane squints at them, there is no possible way he believes them a hundred percent, but Amy and Liam aren't looking for a hundred percent—they're looking for fifty, at most.

And in a flash Shane goes from scrutinizing to happy and wraps his arms around them both bringing them into the weirdest group hug ever "Oh, I'm so happy that my two best friends are trying" he leans his cheek against Liam's head and sighs happily.

Liam looks at Amy and smiles and she smiles back because, yeah, they pulled this off for at least the current moment.

 **x**

They're off school campus. The little diner that Liam first heard the news that he was going to be a daddy and the day Lauren and Liam got a little too excited about placenta eating had become a nice place to go.

It was a nice neutral territory where Liam, Amy, and Lauren could be without having to worry about the place being tainted with memories of anyone else.

Lauren sighs heavily after a few minutes of them looking at their menus in silence "Shane texted me earlier"

Liam's head snaps to look at her while Amy sighs—she should've expected that "What? What did he say?"

"Said how the two of you are trying to become friends and how he feels like there's something else going on" she lets out a deep breath and takes a sip from her cup "Asked me if I knew anything or some bullshit"

"What did you say?" it was a curious question, not accusing; Amy knew Lauren wouldn't sell them out to Shane Harvey. No matter how civil the two could be

"I said fuck off" she smiles softly and speaks wistfully "Oh, how I have missed being mean to someone" Amy can't help but laugh—Lauren, bless her heart, hasn't said anything mean to Amy since finding out she was pregnant. There was an occasional barb and nickname that the blonde wasn't too fond of but it was all of jest. Lauren meant no harm and Amy could see that she missed being a bitch to someone so she laughs and then Liam laughs and Lauren can't help but chuckle as well.

It's a nice moment in the shit storm they were in and Amy can't help but think, if only for a second, that this is possibly the best it's gonna get.

 **x**

"Okay, so, I gotta ask" it's the middle of dinner at their little diner, Amy's look to her side where Liam sits "What's with the whole telling the truth thing?"

Lauren nods at Amy's words "I wanna know too because I, _at_ _least_ , tell ten lies daily and you can't even seem to say one most days"

Liam sighs "It's family stuff—some kinda messed up family stuff"

Amy nods and doesn't push, he'd tell them both when he's ready "Yeah, I get that" she spoons some more food into her mouth and her mind goes back to her own family "most days family stuff is messed up"

"It's just—" he sighs "there's a secret that no one told me and I had to find it out on my own and, I guess, that kinda fucked me up in the whole 'lie telling' department"

The smaller blonde cocks her head to the side "I don't mean to pry—" she pauses "Well, okay I kinda do but what was the secret"

"Lauren!"

"What?" she raises her hands "I wanna know and you can't tell me that you don't wanna know"

"Still you can't just ask—"

"It's okay" Liam lays a hand on Amy's shoulder "It's a fair question" he sucks in a breath and looks across the table to where Lauren sat "I found out my parents adopted me—"

"wow"

"—and my birth mother is actually my sister"

"Holy shit" Amy sends a hard stare to Lauren "Sorry, sorry but— _holy shit_ "

He nods "Yeah"

Lauren leans back "So, do they know you know?"

"Yeah and no one is happy about it"

"I just—" Lauren sighs "That's gotta be a tough pill to swallow"

Liam nods "It was"

Amy squeezes his arm, she doesn't know when contact was normal between them but apparently now it was "I'm sorry"

"It's no one's fault. Apparently my sister was sixteen and my parents thought it was the right thing to do"

Amy swallows and, of course, can't help but think about the life growing inside her. She's sixteen and she's scared of her fucking mind most days but she's not sure she could ever just watch her mother raise her baby as her own.

Lauren sighs heavily "My mom left" Amy and Liam's head snap up to look at her, Lauren doesn't look sad but the amusement that had been in her eyes is gone "My daddy likes to say she died, as fucked as that is, because he doesn't want anyone knowing that she left"

"Lauren—"

"No, it's okay" she shrugs, Amy can see it hurts because her face betrays her words "It happened when I was six and, since then, it's just been me, my daddy and an endless parade of his flavors of the month" she pauses "Well, until Farrah"

Amy smiles softly and reaches over and takes Lauren's hand, the last two weeks have been hard and Lauren's been there for every second—squeezing her hand to try and give her some kind of comfort is the least she can do.

"She's never come back around?"

Lauren shakes her head and takes her hand out of Amy's "no, but I don't blame her"

Liam's brow furrows "Why?"

"just—just family stuff" she sighs "Messed up family stuff"

Amy leans back into her chair and lets out a deep breath "Wow we're all kinda fucked in the family department, huh?"

"Yeah" Lauren and Liam say in unison

Her hands go to her still flat tummy and she sends a silent prayer up to anyone who's listening that, if anything, at least give this baby the people she has around her now. Its mother, father and aunt—and maybe that will be enough for it when they're older just like how it's enough for Amy at this current moment.

 **x**

"So, I can only assume this goes without saying but you tell anyone about what we talked about and I make sure you never get to see your child" Lauren warns as the three of them walk outside

Liam smiles despite the fact that Lauren kind of just threatened him and raises his hands "My lips are sealed"

"Good" she sighs heavily and looks over at Amy "now let's go home, all this emotional shit tired me out"

 **x**

"My dad left too" Amy says quietly as they drive home "I didn't want to say anything at the diner because I'm scared he's gonna leave too" Lauren doesn't say anything "I was seven and him and my mom were, just, always fighting and one day he just kissed me on my head and left" Amy sighs "Haven't seen him since and my mom stopped talking about him about two weeks after that"

Lauren spares a quick look over to Amy "I'm sorry"

"It's nothing—he left and divorced my mom. That's that" she sighs "I mean, obviously it kinda fucked me up if I'm scared Liam will leave but, you know, it happened and I just have to deal with it"

Amy feels Lauren's hand slip into her own "He won't leave"

"I know or, at least, I like to think that but—but my dad waited till I was seven before he left and broke my mom's heart. It's scary to think that it could happen to this thing too" she vaguely gestures to her stomach

"Liam won't leave—when you have fucked up family stuff, you tend and try and make sure that never happens to your own child and, like you said, we're kinda fucked in the family department" she smiles lightly "So you just know this baby is gonna have the best and weirdest family ever"

Amy smiles, it's odd how there's no one else she would want as this baby's aunt.

 **x**

The next day brings some interesting events. Or one event in particular.

Amy walks on campus with a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach, it's heavy and it makes her even more nauseous that her mother's cooking. Lauren quickly slips off to class and Amy starts towards her building when a hand wraps around her wrist, she spins around to see Shane

"Jesus Christ—you nearly gave me a heart attack, Shane" the blonde puts her hand on her chest "Wait, why aren't you in class?"

"Because you and I have to talk" he drags Amy towards a closet and pushes her into it, not hard, and follows suit slamming the door behind him "Okay, Miss Raudenfeld—spill"

Amy's face scrunches up "Spill what?"

"Spill why you and your Satan like step-sister were having dinner with Liam" he raises his phone and Amy sighs when she sees his screen—pictures of them at the diner last night. Her hand is on Liam's arm and Lauren looks sympathetic—it was right after Liam told them about the whole adoption thing.

"I told you we're trying to be friends"

"Nu-uh" he waves his finger "This—" he gestures to the photo "This is more like we're already friends and I have _never_ seen Lauren look like this. She doesn't do empathy, Amy—I've only ever seen pissed and smug on that girl's face so, again I say, spill"

"Shane—"

"Don't 'Shane' me. There's something going on"

"No just—"

"Amy you're an awful liar. I barely bought that story yesterday and now I don't buy it at all"

"Shane, just—" she sighs "Some things are just going on" bullshitting a bullshiter is not a good idea so she goes ahead and chooses to say the very, very, _very_ vague truth "And Lauren's been there"

He squints at Amy "And Liam?"

Her mind in racing trying to come up with some kind of solution to this but nothings coming to her, she opens her mouth to say anything but nothing comes out.

"That big, huh?"

"Shane—" her sentence is cut off when the janitor opens the closest

"What the hell are you two doin'?" and with that Amy slips out of the doorway and races off to class. Shane sighs heavily and plucks his bag from the floor and heads to his own class leaving a very confused janitor looking at him leave

"I thought he was the gay one"

 **x**

 _ **Pls review and lemme know what you think!**_


	6. what's nine more months?

_**Sorry for the wait! I've been super busy as of late and everything got tossed up in the air buuut now I'm back and this chapter is not really filler, I don't think, but not too much is going on. Finding my way back into writing this after my short break, anyways, please enjoy!**_

Amy runs off to the nearest bathroom as soon as she slips under the janitor's arm and is headed down the hall because she doesn't put it past Shane Harvey to keep on and try and get her to spill her secret and she just can't do that right now.

She pushes the door open and sucks in a deep breath as soon as the door shuts fully behind her, when she breathes out it comes out shaky and broken and she feels tears burn her eyes. She's not hundred percent sure why she's crying—was it because Shane knew something was going on and the probability of him finding out was huge? Was it the idea of someone finding out in general?—her heart is pounding in her chest and she hears a whimper escape her.

"Fuck" she wipes at her eyes angrily and tries to steady her breathing, this wasn't the time "pull yourself together, Amy" she sucks in another breath and lets it out slowly, it's more steady than the first time she did it "Okay, okay, okay" running a hand through her hair she looks at the mirror and nods her head "You're fine—you can do this. You can do this"

"Amy?"

She looks over at her name being called quietly to see Karma peeking her head through— _shit_. This is not what she needed.

"Amy, what's wrong?" she fully steps into the bathroom and is quick to walk over to her best friend, her hand moving and wiping Amy's still wet cheeks like she's done so many times before "What happened?"

"I—" the blonde swallows hard—she hated lying to Karma. Mostly because she couldn't but also because this girl, for better or for worse, was her best friend and lying to her, keeping a part of her life from her felt wrong "I just feel so stressed out lately"

Karma smiles softly and wraps Amy up in a hug. It's not a complete lie, the blonde thinks to herself—for the past two weeks she's had to live with knowing she's pregnant and keeping it from everyone and that is very stressful.

"How about we do a day for just us soon, hm?" Karma asks, her arms still wound around Amy's waist "A day to relax, unwind and forget everything else" she pulls back and looks so damn hopeful that Amy can't help but smile and say 'okay'. Karma smiles and pulls Amy into one last quick hug before pulling back "this Saturday, okay? Just a day to unwind and help you get yourself together"

Amy nods "Saturday. Thanks, Karms"

"It's nothing—you're my best friend" she squeezes Amy's shoulder "Now I have to get back to class, I just saw you when I was on my way and needed to make sure you were okay. Just get through this week" she sends one last soft smile and then is out of the bathroom.

Amy sighs and looks at herself in the mirror—her face was blotchy, her eyes were kind of red and there was a guilt that filled them "You can't do this"

 **x**

"Hey" Lauren greets simply as she plops down next to Amy, tray in hand, "So remember that your appointment is coming up okay? Oh, and I think we should do a weekly dinner with you know who bec—" she stops her sentence and Amy looks up, to see Lauren staring at her with squinted eyes

"What?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing?" Amy really didn't want to tell Lauren about Shane (or Karma) because she really didn't want to see Lauren decapitate Shane in front of the whole school.

"Okay" Lauren huffed and twisted her body to face Amy "That's bullshit—I can see it on your face that something's up so, I ask again, what's wrong?"

"Lauren—"

"Wait" she holds up her hand and takes a deep breath, she exhales and then looks at Amy "Okay, now go"

"what was that?"

"I'm just getting ready for you to tell me who you told"

"What?"

"Amy, I haven't known you long but you're a pretty easy read—so who did you tell?"

"No one"

"Who found out?"

Amy sighs "No one, for now" Lauren raises an eyebrow at her and Amy shakes her head "You're gonna get mad"

"I won't get mad"

"I already know you Lauren"

"I promise, I won't"

Amy, despite her gut telling her to snap her mouth shut, sighs "Okay so this morning something happened"

 **x**

"Lauren, wait!" Amy's pushing through crowds of students as the small blonde stalks through the same crowds with ease—she swears some of these people are jumping out of Lauren's way "Lauren you said you wouldn't get mad!"

"This is different!" she growls out "First of all—he shouldn't have fucking cornered you like that, he's a fucking sociopath" Amy finally just pushes a guy out of the way and catches up to Lauren's side "Second of all—he doesn't get to try and beat a secret out of you"

"Lauren, he didn't hit me. You make him sound like he was bludgeoning me with a broom"

"He knows you're weak willed when it comes to secrets and that you'd give it up if you were in there for a second more" Amy looks around and finally sees where they're going, her face scrunches up

"Lauren, why are we going to the art room?"

"I think it's only fair I tell Liam he's about to lose his best friend before I murder him in front of the whole student body"

The smaller blonde pushes the door open to see Liam sitting on a stool, painting "Liam!" he whirls around so fast he nearly falls off the stool. Once he realizes who's in the room worry instantly fills his eyes

"Hey, is everything okay?"

"No, everything is not okay" She crosses her arms over her chest "Your friend is crazy—he waited till Amy was alone this morning, dragged her to a broom closet and cornered her and tried to get her to spill her guts"

Liam pauses "Shane?"

"Yes, dumbass, Shane"

He looks over at Amy "Are you okay?"

She nods "I'm fine—he didn't push me or anything but he does know something is up, for sure. Lauren's just kinda overreacting"

The blonde whirls around and looks at her "I am not overreacting! He could've hurt you when he pushed you, and he just wanted gossip—he doesn't actually care who he hurts and I'm not gonna let him do it to you too" a pause "cause you're pregnant and stress isn't good for the baby"

Amy smiles softly "Lauren, I'm fine. He didn't hurt me" her eyes flit to Liam's "He really didn't" she looks back to Lauren "and fact it, everyone is gonna find out sooner or later—I'm not that big so a bump is probably gonna show up sooner than later"

"Still, he shouldn't have done that"

"No he shouldn't have" both girls look to Liam who sighs "I'm sorry he did that, Amy"

She shakes her head "It's not your fault—he's your friend, you can't control his actions"

"Still, Lauren is right he shouldn't have done that and I will talk to him"

"Liam…"

"I won't tell him anything" he promises "I'll just tell him to back off"

Amy smiles "Thank you"

"No problem"

Lauren huffs "Man, I was really hoping I was going to finally get rid of Shane motherfucking Harvey today"

 **x**

"Hey can we talk real quick?" Shane turns around from his open locker to see Liam, he raises his brow and cocks his head

"Does this have anything to do with Amy?"

"It might" Liam crosses his arms over his chest "Let's go talk"

Shane nods and slams his locker shut before following his friend. Both boys walk to a piece of the courtyard that was fairly empty except for a few people skipping. They sit down at a bench and a silence settles over them as Liam contemplates what to say—he was mad, sure but he also expected it from Shane. The boy has been hungry for gossip since they were little but this was different (not that Shane knew that) Amy and Lauren and his' secret is huge, it's not just your run of the mill gossip. This is going to possibly break up a few people. Liam sighs and runs his hand through his hair, maybe a direct approach would be best with Shane "What you did this morning wasn't cool, Shane. You can't just corner people"

The other boy is shocked—Liam has defended people in the past but to defend Amy Raudenfeld was a different story. She was the fake girlfriend of his real secret girlfriend who was in love with said secret girlfriend—there weren't a lot of reasons for him to be defending Amy "Liam, what's going on with you two? And Lauren" If Shane were honest—he was, above all, worried.

Liam had never been one to keep a secret from him so he knows it must be big and that makes Shane worry because Liam isn't good with big things. He's also worried about Amy because her already drama filled life didn't need more drama (and, dare he say it, he was also a bit concerned about Lauren because, really, if Lauren knows—it must be big and keeping , especially big, secrets isn't good for people even if said person is the devil in heels)

"Shane.." he wants to tell him but he promised he wouldn't say anything so he sighs "Stuff is going on and, believe me, I want to tell you but I can't and I need you to promise me that you won't do what you did this morning, again"

"Liam, now you have me officially worried"

"Shane just please promise me you will leave Amy, and Lauren, alone" he looks at his friend with pleading eyes

"Why can't you tell me?"

"It's all too fucked up, man. Just wait, okay?"

"Does Karma know?"

Liam scoffs "No"

Shane sighs and leans against the back of the bench "I want to be the first to know"

"Okay"

"I'm serious, Liam"

"Okay" he smiles "thank you"

Shane flaps his hand "Yeah, yeah no problem"

 **x**

"He says he'll leave it alone for now"

Lauren huffs "For now? That doesn't sound like much coming from Shane"

Liam shrugs "What else do you want from him? You said it yourself—he loves gossip but he promised me he'd back off"

"I suppose it will do"

Amy smiles "Thanks again"

Liam beams "No problem"

 **x**

"It's gonna come out and that's scary" Liam looks over at Amy—they were sitting in his art room in silence. Lauren had gone to class but Amy wasn't up for it so she opted to stay in the art room with Liam "I'm terrified of what's gonna happen when it's out"

"Yeah, me too" he moves over to where she's sitting; on a stool in front of a half done painting "but the reward is gonna be pretty great, right?"

"hopefully"

He looks over at her "hopefully?"

"I don't know if I'm gonna be a good mom" she admits honestly, her eyes glued to the easel in front of her—she can't do complete honesty with him yet if she's looking him in the eyes "I don't want to mess this kid up"

"Amy…"

"I know, I know—everyone has this worry but—but I just—" she sighs "I don't know"

He places a comforting hand on her shoulder "we're gonna be okay"

"How can you be so sure?"

"I'm not but we need to believe we're gonna be or the next nine months are gonna be hell" he sits down on a stool next to her "and then the next eighteen years will be even rougher"

Amy inhales sharply "I can't believe this is happening, still" she spares a look to him "Like, we're sixteen—we barely know each other and we're gonna—we're gonna have a kid together" she looks down at her hands "this feels like the most crazy dream ever"

"yeah"

"But then people are gonna find out and—and I know it won't be a dream anymore" Amy sighs "god, Liam, this is going to destroy my friendship with Karma"

"Maybe not. Maybe she'll understand that we were hurt and we were really drunk and—"

"She won't" Amy shakes her head "I love her but she won't. She's going to be too hurt and—and I don't blame her"

"We'll get through it"

She looks up at him and keeps her eyes locked with his "How do you know?"

"We've been pretty okay the last two weeks, right?" he wraps an arm around her shoulders and carefully tugs her close "What's another nine months?"


	7. baby's first picture

_**It's been awhile, friends! I'm sorry again but, you know, sometimes things take time and this was one of those things but this is a little longer so hopefully that makes up for the time difference! Now please enjoy**_

Lauren had first noticed the bi-weekly phone calls about two weeks after first settling in with at the Raudenfeld home. The blonde hadn't been exactly getting along with her father's girlfriend's daughter (meaning Lauren had yet to acknowledge her at all) but she noticed the schedule they seemed to be set on.

And part of the schedule was the phone calls.

Amy, every Monday and Friday, would scamper up to her mom and whisper something too low for Lauren to hear, Farrah would sigh and huff and pout but with a few more minutes of gentle prodding—they were both up the stairs and out of sight. Lauren followed with quick and light footsteps and pressed her ear against the door in which the two had slipped into, Farrah's bedroom, and listen as intently as she could.

It was pretty silent, and then Amy would say 'hello?' and then Farrah would yank the door open (Lauren was fairly quick to get away because loud thumps against the floor gave her some fair warning) and pace in front of the door for the next hour. Her daddy would come and pry Farrah from her place and then Lauren would go back to pressing her ear against the door.

She heard nothing except for Amy talking, laughing, and sounding happy. Sometimes, not too rarely but not too often, Karma was allowed in the room and she'd hear them both talk loudly and happily and it was annoying to no end because Lauren had no idea who was on the other end of the phone.

But now Lauren had acknowledged Amy's existence—they were friends, and had become rather close due to the fact Lauren is one of the two people who know about Amy's current situation so she gathers up the courage to ask and finally end her torment about not knowing who was on the other end of the line.

"Amy?" Lauren slipped from bed; just a few minutes after hearing Farrah and her daddy close their bedroom door, and crossed through their conjoined bathroom and quietly stepped into the blonde's room. She knew Amy wasn't asleep because she could hear the girl watching 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' from the bathroom.

Said girl looked up, her eyebrows scrunching together "yeah?"

"I was wondering, if I could ask you something?" Lauren sat at the end of the bed "It's kinda been bothering me for a while"

Amy nodded and paused her show; she pushed the laptop off her lap and sat up a little straighter "What's up?"

"I, um—" Lauren sighed, she didn't want to push Amy because they had finally gotten to a good place and, as much as she won't admit it out loud, she doesn't want to ruin that "I noticed something when I first moved here" she pauses "I noticed that you would call someone?" she sees and hears Amy's sharp intake of breath "Or something and I just wanted to know who or what it was"

"oh" she looked down and sighed "That, um, is kinda a long story"

"If you don't wanna say it then—"

Amy shakes her head "No, it's okay. I can sum it up"

Lauren nods and waits for Amy to speak; she can see the girl gathering her thoughts and try to formulate a good sentence. "I love my mom" she says suddenly and Lauren's brow furrows

"I know but—"

"It's not gonna sound like I love my mom but I do, I really do but when I was younger she wasn't the best and—but, I love her, okay?"

Lauren nods slowly "okay"

Amy takes a deep breath "My mom was kinda young when she had me, she was 19 and finishing up her first year of college and—and she didn't want me but her mom made her keep me because she had been living with her at the time and—" Amy shakes her head "not the point. Point is, she didn't want to be a mom but she had me anyways and—and it was fairly clear that she wasn't ready"

"She was so focused on school, that she never had time to be a mother. She never had the time to really be around me, but I had my dad so I didn't care too much but then—" she pauses and Lauren can see Amy steeling herself, trying to squash those emotions down as far as she can "yeah, well you know what happened. Anyways—and then my mom was kinda on her own and she didn't know how to be a mom but all of sudden she had gotten into contact with an old friend of hers and I just started spending a lot of time with him" she sighs

"My mom was working a lot and my grandma couldn't take care of me anymore so—I just spent time with him and his girlfriend and they kinda became my fill in parents, there wasn't a day I didn't see them and—" she smiles a little "I loved them, I loved being with them and spending time with them and, it just felt nice to be a part of a family"

Lauren looks at her closely, she had never heard of these people. She never has seen anything either "What happened?"

Amy shrugs "I don't know, one day they asked to speak to my mom alone and the next? My mom said that Karma's parents would be the ones to pick me up from school, instead of them"

"So , the phone calls…"

"Right, right" Amy sighs "Well, I loved them and they were such a big part of my life so my mom decided that I could call them, at least but it's only twice a week and only for two hours"

"Why do you think she's so strict with them about this?"

"I wish I knew. I miss them and I love talking to them but—but whatever they said must've pissed my mom off"

"Do they live here? In Austin?" Lauren usually might've been able to restrain herself and not ask so many questions but suddenly there's this whole piece of her step-sister that she's never seen before and she wants to know every inch of it.

"No, they moved to Dallas a few years ago. We use to sneak some time in together but now it's just phone calls"

Lauren nods and places her hand over Amy's "Thanks for telling me"

"No problem" Amy lets out a deep breath and shakes her head "Now—are you going to be joining me for some Netflix or what?" Lauren nods her head and lays down next to Amy as the girl un pauses the show and lets the cheery theme song fill the room.

 **x**

Amy siting on her mom's bed, her legs crossed. She stares at the phone in her hand and sighs—she wanted to tell them, at least if she told them and they were mad all they could do was yell and not kick her out or anything. She dials their number and hits 'call', she only waits a second before a cheery voice comes through "Amy!"

"Hi, Lex" she smiles "How was your week?"

"No, no, no" she can practically see the woman shaking her head "This is about you, little miss, I wanna know how your week was"

Amy plays with a loose strand of thread coming from her mother's comforter "I actually wanted to—" she swallows hard, gathering up her courage "I wanted to talk to you and Mark at the same time"

"Oh, sure, hold on sweetheart" she hears her yelling for Mark to 'get his ass over here and talk to their girl' and within the minute she hears his gruff voice

"Hey, Otter. What's up?"

Amy smiles a little at the nickname she had inherited at seven years old, it was a comfort as she tried to come out with the secret that she carrying around "Um, am I on speaker? I want you both to hear this"

"yeah" the woman, Lexie, comes back on "We can both hear you, babe"

"Okay, so—" Amy sucks in a deep breath "I just—I need to tell y'all something and, um, it's kinda big"

"Okay" she hear worry in Mark's voice "what's going on, otter?"

"I'm pregnant" there's a full five seconds of silence "I—mom doesn't know and—" she can feel her eyes burning at their lack of response "and I just wanted to tell y'all and I get that you're mad o-or upset but it's done and-and I can't be helped, you know?" she's rambling and she can't stop herself "I told the dad and he's all in and—and so am I"

There's no response.

"I—" she swallows hard "Guys? Lexie? Mark?"

"um—" her heart stutters as she hears Lexie "I just—we're not sure how to respond right now, baby"

"Just say you don't hate me" she sounds so small and any other time, Amy would scoff at the way she begs them but now isn't that time. These were her second set of parents and having them in her life was so important to her, she could live through a lot but she doesn't know if she can live with the people who helped raise her, hating her.

"we don't hate you, otter" Mark says quickly and the name and the urgency in his voice give Amy a sense of comfort "We're just a little shocked"

"I know, I was too"

"so you mom doesn't know?"

She shakes her head, despite knowing they can't see her "I haven't worked up the courage to tell her, yet"

"tell her soon, Amy" Lexie's voice is stern and loving "She's your mom, she needs to know"

"I know"

"we love you, Amy" she assures her gently over the phone "We love you so much and nothing could make us hate you or not want to talk to you, baby"

She tries to blink away tears "okay"

"You're seeing a doctor, right?" Mark asks

"Yeah, yeah. In Dallas actually"

"really?" he sounds happy "When's your next appointment?"

"um" Amy thinks for a second "this week, it's my first sonogram"

"oh!" she can hear Lexie's smile over the phone "Call us when you're in town, baby—we'll take the day off to go with you"

Amy nods and doesn't even think before saying "okay"

They talk for an hour more or so before they bid her a goodnight and as Amy sits there, phone in hand she suddenly feels so much less scared to tell her mom because if they, the people who only met Amy when she was seven, can still want to be there for her then surely her mother would too.

Or at least that's what Amy is going to tell herself until she tells her mother.

 **x**

The next day is Saturday and Amy is a nervous wreck—it was her and Karma's day today. Usually she'd be nothing but smiles because she loves spending the day with her best friend but today's different. She's pregnant with Karma's ex-boyfriend's baby and she hasn't told Karma, yet.

It kinda puts a whole damper on the 'spending the day with your best friend' thing.

"So, are you sure you can do this?" Lauren's looking at her closely "Cause I don't need you telling her the secret and then having to drag a crying Karma out of this house"

"I'm sure" she's not but fake it till you make it, right? "She's my best friend and all I have to do is forget for a few hours that I am, in fact, pregnant"

Lauren raises a brow at her "okaaay but remember please remember that I will not hesitate to punch her in the face if you tell her and she gets violent"

 **x**

Karma arrives and it's easy enough—they cuddle on the couch and watch TV, Karma does her hair and they even make a trip out of the mall (a small victory for Amy because she had puked twice when they were there and she managed to hide both times from Karma) and now they're back home.

Their bellies full, eyes sagging and slowly drifting off on Amy's bed as a queued up show plays on Amy's laptop "Amy?"

"Hm?"

"do you feel a little less stressed?"

Amy smiles a sleepy little smile and snuggles closer to her friend "much"

"good" she feels Karma press a kiss to her head and manages to ignore the guilt that weighs her down because right now she was able to forget—forget every single fucked up thing about this whole mess and just be a regular teenager who's cuddling with her best friend and quickly falling asleep because they ate too much at the food court.

She also ignores how wrong it feels to forget the little thing in her stomach.

 **x**

Amy wakes up first and she sits up, slowly untangling herself from Karma. She slips off to the bathroom and then as she exits, she stops and looks at the sleeping girl—every bone in her body wants to tell Karma.

Wants to tell her friend that she's pregnant and that it's Liam's and that as fucked at it all is that she still wants her by her side.

She wants to do all of that but she doesn't want to break her friend's heart either but Karma finding out from anyone else would be wrong. It would be pouring salt on the wound; she deserves to hear the words from Amy's mouth and hers alone.

"Hey" she spins around to see Lauren looking at her, her side pressed against the entrance to the bathroom from her room "Now is not the time" she says easily and it stopped throwing Amy off at how well Lauren read her

"Lauren—"

"Look" she crosses over and takes Amy's hand, gently tugging her till they're in her room. She closes the door and looks at the blonde "Amy I know you love her and I know you want to tell her and—as much as I don't like her, she does deserve to hear it from you but I'm telling you. Now is not the time"

"but why? We had a good day and—"

"That's why, Amy. You guys had a great day, let her have this day before you say anything—let her at least have this day before you tell her and then both of your worlds unravels"

Amy sighs "I want to tell her"

"I know" she reaches out and takes Amy's hand, gently squeezing it "but not today"

 **x**

Lauren says what she says for Amy. She doesn't like Karma and she doesn't know if she ever _can_ but she likes Amy and she knows whatever she tells Karma is going to hurt her just as much so she does what she does for Amy.

She really doesn't care about Karma in this situation all that much, if she's being honest.

 **x**

Karma wakes up alone and immediately pouts; she sits up and rubs her eyes and looks around but finds no one. Swing her legs off the bed she slowly pads to the bathroom and opens the door just in time to see Amy opening the door from Lauren's room.

Amy jumps a little "oh, hey"

"hey" Karma's face bunches up "Why are you coming from Lauren's?"

"oh, I—" Amy feels herself clamming up "just needed to talk to her"

"about?"

"Just—you know, stuff, like—you know"

Karma furrows her brow "Amy, you are the absolute worst liar in the world"

"Just—" Amy sighs "some stuff is happening and—and I was just talking to her"

"anything you can tell me?" she places a comforting hand on Amy's arm and it makes the knot in the blonde's chest, tighten.

"No" she shakes her head "Not today but maybe another day"

Karma smiles softly "Okay now please get out of here—I need to pee"

 **x**

"Not that bad, right?" Amy asks the day after her day with Karma "Nothing too bad"

Lauren sighs "I suppose not but, please, the next time you get caught doing something—work on a better lie because Karma's right—you suck at lying"

 **x**

A week passes and nothing really happens. Amy throws up in a bucket after getting hit in the face with the most fruitiest perfume she's ever smelt while in the middle of the hallway, Liam, Amy and Lauren all spend a few more breakfasts or dinners at the little diner that they had grown use to, and now it was the day of Amy's first sonogram and she's terrified.

(they all are but Lauren and Liam are a little better at hiding it)

"what if I'm pregnant with twins?" Amy puts a hand on her stomach "I can't do two babies"

Lauren scoffs and waves her hand "Please, that's not gonna happen"

Liam squeezes Amy's shoulder "Take a deep breath, Amy. This is gonna be fine" she sucks in a deep breath and leans her head back against the window.

They've been driving for about an hour and still have two more to go. Liam was in the back, while Lauren drove and Amy took the passenger seat. It was comforting to Amy knowing that the people she wanted most were right there with her.

"oh" she shifted in her seat "That's right I forgot to tell you something" Lauren raises her brow

"What?"

Amy sucks in a breath and starts telling Lauren of her latest phone call, and then at Liam's confused stares she tells him the whole story just as she had told Lauren "So, yeah" she finishes, the story and looks at them both—Lauren's eyes are trained on the road and Liam has his head cocked to the side

"So, in the simplest terms, I'm meeting your second-dad?"

The blonde thinks for a second before nodding "yeah, that's a good way to put that"

"I'm meeting him and I got you pregnant"

"yup"

"I'm the guy that got his baby girl pregnant—"

"well, I wouldn't say—"

"—he's gonna kill me" Liam runs a hand through his hair "I've never had to deal with parents but now I do and it's not cause we're dating or something innocent it's because you're pregnant!"

"Liam calm down" Amy turns in her seat and puts a hand on his knee "He's not gonna kill you"

"but—"

"I swear he's not. He's a little protective, sure but he won't kill you"

Liam nods and lets out a breath "okay, okay"

"Now when we tell my mom though, I'm not too sure how well God is gonna save your ass"

Lauren hums and speaks "Oh yeah, Farrah is the one you should be worried about"

 **x**

"You okay?" Amy lolls her head to the side and looks at Lauren—Liam had fallen asleep about 20 minutes ago and now it was just the two blondes "You were pretty quiet"

"yeah"

"Lauren…"

"I'm fine" she grips the steering wheel a little harder "just worried is all"

Amy picks up her head "About?"

"I don't know" Lauren sighs "just like—now someone else knows and-and it won't be too long before we tell Farrah and daddy and then Karma and then the whole school and—"

"woah, woah, woah" Amy places a hand on Lauren's arm "calm down, even I'm not getting that far ahead of myself"

They pull up to a red light and the smaller blonde looks at her step-sister "soon this is gonna be out and I don't know how to process all that"

"Well, surely however you do it, you'll do better than Liam" she smiles and points a finger to the boy who snores loudly in the back "he nearly had a panic attack at the idea to meeting Lexie and Mark"

Lauren manages a small smile and snorts "I can do anything better than Liam Booker"

"I know" she squeezes Lauren's arm before retracting her hand "now, please, calm down and lets just get through today and when the time comes—then we panic"

"okay" she presses her foot down on the gas and they drive the rest of the way in silence.

 **x**

They pull up the clinic and Amy lets out a deep breath, her hand gripping her legs "so this is really happening"

"yup"

"okay" she sighs and turns around, smacking Liam on the knee "hey! Wake up!"

He slowly comes to and lets out a tired 'huh?', before slowly sitting up, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He looks around and lets his brain slowly connect the pieces as it still struggles to wake up "oh"

"yeah now get out of the car" Amy opens her own door and steps out of the car, she stands up and looks around. It looks the same just as it did last time; her eyes scan the area looking for the familiar pair of people.

"Amy!" she spins around just in time to see the woman coming right at her, her arms instinctively go and wrap themselves around her. She feels another pair of arms wrap themselves around them both and she buries her nose in the woman's neck—it had been just about a year since they last saw each other in person and being there felt like a part of her was coming home.

She pulls back and smiles brightly "I missed you two"

"We missed you more" Mark kisses her forehead "Now introduce us to your friend, otter"

"Oh, right" she steps out of their embrace and goes and tugs Lauren and Liam's arms so that their both standing in front of the man and woman "Mark, Lexie this is my step-sister, Lauren"

The small blonde sticks her hand out "Nice to meet you"

Lexie takes her hand and shakes it "you too"

"and this" she pushes Liam ever so slightly so he's standing in front of her "is Liam. He's the, um, baby's father"

"Oh" Lexie looks over at Mark and watches the man carefully. Mark looks down at the boy and after the tensest five seconds Liam has ever faced, he smiles and takes Liam's hand

"Nice to meet you, son"

Lauren and Amy nearly laugh and how Liam looks like he could pass out from relief.

 **x**

After a pretty standard wait of 30 minutes, Amy, Liam, Lauren, Mark and Lexie were all squeezed into the tiny exam room. Lexie and Mark stood behind the exam table and Lauren and Liam stood by Amy's side with Liam closes to her head.

"I'm scared" Amy admits softy "This is gonna make it real"

Lauren scoffs "I'm sure the past month of morning sickness made it pretty damn real" she gives Amy's calf a light and quick squeeze.

"I know but—" Amy sighs "But this is actually seeing it and-and that's big, you know?"

"You'll be alright, otter" Mark encourages softly as he places a hand on her shoulder. Lauren smiles and jumps in

"Okay, so I gotta know—the nickname, what's up with it?"

Lexie smiles brightly and Amy lets out a loud groan "Okay, so—" a knock on the door interrupts the woman's sentence and Amy smiles

"oh thank god"

The nurse, a young and preppy girl peeks her head in "you all ready?"

"yeah"

She smiles at them and walks into the room, fully and plops down on the rolling seat near the exam table "Okay, mama let's get down to it" the nurse says kindly "can you please roll your shirt up and unbutton your jeans for me?" Amy nods and quickly unbuttons her jeans and scoots them down the tiniest bit and drags her shirt up her stomach.

The nurse grabs a bottle "okay and this is gonna be a little cold" she squirts the gel on Amy's exposed stomach and the girl tenses, Liam notices and takes her hand and squeezes it softly "now" the nurse says happily "let's get this show started" she places the probe on her stomach and presses down "Okay so let's find this—" she cuts herself off "oh there they are" she looks over the five faces looking at her "Wanna see?"

Liam nods eagerly "yes, please"

"Okay, well" she pushes the monitor towards them "they don't look like much being you're only two months buuut—" she uses the mouse and circles a blob on the screen "That's your baby"

"Oh" Amy feels her heart stutter in her chest, she never thought she would feel like this. She never thought she would look at something that doesn't even look like a baby and feel so much— _love_. "Wow"

"And this" she presses a few keys and the room is filled with a loud and fast sound "is your baby's heartbeat"

Amy faintly hears Lexie whimper and Mark squeeze her shoulder, she looks over at Liam to see him smiling so widely it looks like his face is gonna spilt in half and Lauren has a soft smile tugging at her lips. She squashes any feeling of guilt at not having a few other people here because right now this wasn't about them. She looks back at the screen and then at the nurse "it's supposed to sound like that, right? That fast?"

The nurse smiles "yes, mama, it's supposed to sound like that. Your baby's got a good, strong heartbeat"

"yeah?"

"yeah"

Amy squeezes Liam's hand and bites her lip, she really doesn't want to cry but she blinks and suddenly there's a tear trailing down her cheek and she can't do anything about it. She sees something out of the corner of her eye and looks over to see Lauren handing her a tissue

"Wuss"

Amy lets out a watery chuckle and takes the tissue from her hand "like you're any better—I see those shiny eyes, Cooper"

Lauren rolls her eyes but she's smiling "shut up"

 **x**

They get five copies of the sonogram. One for each of the people that went with her and one for Amy to keep to herself, she already knows she's gonna go home and stick it in her photo album that sits in her nightstand. It holds precious pictures like her and her mom when she was a baby, her mom's first wedding, pictures of Karma, even a few of Lauren from their recent month of friendship—she figures this little black and white photo will fit in just fine.

"Okay, well" Lexie wipes at her eyes "Congratulations on making me cry"

Amy smiles and tugs the woman close "I'm so not sorry" Lexie laughs and hugs her tightly

"Oh" she buries her nose in Amy's neck "I don't wanna let go"

"I know" she pulls back "But Lauren will leave me here" she nods over to where said girl and Liam wait for Amy to be done with her goodbyes.

"Okay, okay" she wipes at her face and sighs "See you next month then, right?"

Amy nods "next month"

"Good" she leans down and presses a kiss to her forehead "Now, I'm gonna go to the car before I start crying again" Amy laugh lightly at Lexie's retreating form before looking over to Mark

"Well, did I make you cry?"

"Nah but you got pretty close"

Amy smiles "I'll get you next time"

"sure, whatever you want to believe" he tugs her to his chest and wraps her up in his arms, resting his chin on her head "I'm gonna miss you, otter"

"Me too" she pulls back a little "but next month remember, not a year like last time"

He smiles "next month" he kisses her forehead "now go before your friend leaves"

"okay, okay" she starts to walk away before she turns around "love you!"

"Love you too, now go!" she smiles and then piles into the car

"Everything good?"

Amy nods "yeah just—" she sighs "Just a little emotional today"

Lauren smiles sympathetically "Come on, let's go home"

 _ **Please review! Hearing your thoughts makes my day!**_


	8. a good mama

_**Sooo it's been awhile, huh? Yeah, sorry about that wait just a lot of stuff going on my end so yeah, sorry. Also while I am sad that the show has been cancelled I do not intend to let that affect my ability to write this story. I love these characters and I want to see them to the end. Also, can you pls review? i don't know, the lack of response kinda has me disheartened**_

Amy was, for the lack of a better word, breaking down. It'd been two weeks since her first sonogram and since then it felt like there was a knot in her chest, tightening with every passing day. Every day she lied to Karma, to her mom, to nearly everyone in her life.

It made her sick, well that and the fact that her morning sickness was god damn awful, and she felt like she was breaking down—she wanted to tell them. She didn't want to wait till a baby bump outed her or a slip of the tongue did.

She wanted to tell them—she owed her parents that, she owed Karma that.

"Amy this isn't—" Lauren sighed "You're 2 and half months pregnant. We have more time to hide this"

"That's just it, Lauren!" she yelled out, frustrated "I don't wanna hide it anymore! When has keeping a secret like this ever went my way? The answer is it hasn't. Lying just gets me into trouble and I don't—I just don't want to lie anymore"

The shorter blonde jumped a little when Amy's voice rose passed causal talking tone but quickly regained her composure—she knew that it sucked to lie to people you loved. She knew what kind of hurt it could cause and she knew that to top off Amy's guilt, she had hormones surging through her.

Carefully she laid a hand on her step-sister's arm "take a breath, Amy cause I can't talk to you when you're freaking the fuck out" Amy huffed but did as told and sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly "great now on to you wanting to spill your guts to everyone"

"Lauren—"

"Please just listen" Amy nodded and Lauren continued "I get it, okay? I know you want to tell everyone so you can stop feeling like the world is on your shoulders but telling everyone isn't gonna help—tell Farrah and, maybe, Karma but realize once this is out—there is no taking it back"

Amy looked down and let out a shaky breath "I just—I don't want to lie anymore. I don't want to feel like this is all—" she cut herself off and Lauren looked at her step-sister, curiously

"Like what, Amy?"

The taller blonde sighed and looked up, locking eyes with Lauren "Like this is a mistake"

"Amy—"

"I know it's not. I love this—this baby, Lauren. I do but—I just want to do right by it and lying just doesn't feel like I'm doing right by it. Does that make sense?"

Lauren nodded "kinda"

"I just, I at least want to tell my mom"

Lauren nodded again "then let's do that"

 **x**

Amy waited a whole week before actually telling her mother. She was already going on three months and she wanted it to, at least, be out in her own home. She texted Liam the night before

 _ **Hey, u up?**_

She got a response a second later

 _ **yeah whats up?**_

She tapped out a message, deleted it, and then tapped it out again

 _ **im telling my mom tomorrow. just thought you should know**_

He responded fairly quickly _**oh, okay**_

A second later, another message came through

 _ **Do you want me there?**_

She considered her options—she could either have Liam not be there and deal with her over dramatic mother on her own or she could have Liam there and, at least, show her mother that the dad is there and he's in.

Only one option sounded good to her so she tapped out a message without a second thought

 _ **yes**_

 **x**

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Amy looked over at Liam—they had ridden to Amy's place after school together since Amy told Lauren she didn't know how this would go and she didn't want the blonde to get into trouble for not saying anything, so Lauren decided to stay after school for a little while.

"no" Amy said truthfully "but there's no turning back, right? Like this is—this is it"

"Well, we can leave if you want"

"no, don't dangle the option cause I'll take it"

"okay then" he took her hand in his "Let's go"

And so she did.

 **x**

"Mom!" Amy called out as soon as she pushed the door open "Mom, where are you?" there was a pause and then

"In the kitchen, baby!"

Amy looked over at Liam "Wait, here. I'm gonna go get her" he nodded and went over the couch where he sat down, while Amy walked through her living room and into the kitchen.

Farrah was washing left over dishes from last night's dinner, the older woman looked over and smiled "hey, baby. What's up?"

"I, um—I need to talk to you" she looked around "is Bruce here?"

"No, he had to stay at work a little later than usual"

"well you can tell him, I just— _we_ really need to talk"

Farrah stopped what she was doing and looked over at her daughter—she may have not been the best mother on the planet but she could tell when her own child was in distress "okay, baby" she turned off the sink and wiped her hands on a dish towel. She walked over to her daughter and put her hands on Amy's shoulders "What's wrong?"

"Um, come to the living room" she took her mother's hand and gently tugged her over to the living room where Liam sat, his knee bouncing nervously.

Farrah's back stiffened and her head cocked "Amy, why is he here?"

Amy sucked in a deep breath and turned to face her mother. She felt tears burning her eyes already but pushed them down as best she could—she didn't know how this would go but she could do it. She's got this.

"Mom, at your wedding—you know how I told Karma I loved her?" Farrah nodded, she knew little about what had happened between Karma and Amy other than Amy was in love, Karma wasn't but they pushed past it "Well she—she rejected me, mom and I just was—just so heartbroken and—and I got really drunk"

Farrah put a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder, she didn't like to see Amy so upset "Amy—"

"Please mom, just wait" Amy sucked in a breath and continued "and—and I was just so incredibly drunk and—and so was Liam" she vaguely gestured to the boy behind her "and—and we slept together" Farrah's eyes grew wide "and—and I'm pregnant, mom"

Farrah felt her stomach drop "oh" Amy's lip wobbled

"I—I'm keeping it and—and Liam is all in and I know we're young but we want this and—" Farrah wordlessly raised her hand cutting Amy off. No one spoke, no one breathed for what felt like forever "Mom, please say something"

Farrah looked up at her daughter and opened her mouth to say something, to say anything but nothing came out. She couldn't find the words to come out of her mouth so Farrah did what she did when she was younger and the pressures of being a mother were too large—she spun on her heel and left the house.

 **x**

" _Oh_ —" Amy's physically jumped when the door to her home closed, Farrah hadn't slammed it but she might has well because Amy jumped like she had "Oh— _Oh my god_ " Liam moved so he was in front of Amy and immediately took notice of her tear filled eyes and how her lip wobbled "I—I—did she just—" the blonde couldn't hold it in any longer, she felt her whole body shake and then tears were spilling down her cheeks.

Liam was quick to wrap Amy up in his arms and hold her tightly so she didn't fall being she went limp as a sob tore itself from her throat "hey, hey" he whispered softly "I got you, it's okay, I got you" he gently moved over to the couch and sat down, Amy's body fall next to his and he just held onto her tightly.

He tired reaching for his phone to call Lauren but that would require Amy calming down enough so he could reach it and that didn't seem to be happening so he just held onto her and let her break.

 **x**

Farrah didn't know where she was going till she got there. She looked over at the house she sat in front of and her vision went blurry—sometimes a girl, even when she's a woman with a baby of her own, just needs her mama.

The blonde climbed out of her car and went to the door and knocked on it, hard and fast. She felt tears threaten to spill and did everything she could to make sure they didn't. It was only a minute before the door opened and Farrah came face to face with her mother

"Farrah what—" she didn't get to finish her sentence before she flung herself on her mother and let out a little whimper

"Mama, I don't know what to do"

Kathleen Raudenfeld felt like ice water was being poured down the back of her neck—her daughter never willingly came to her mother for help and now here she was, a whimpering mess, and it scared the hell out of Kathleen.

"Farrah" she managed to pry her daughter off her, she gently tugged her inside and sat the woman on her couch. She closed the front door before going over and sitting next to her daughter "Farrah, baby, what's wrong?"

"It's Amy, mama—" Farrah's whole body shook "She's—she's pregnant"

Kathleen sighed heavily, she wanted more for her granddaughter and being pregnant certainly wasn't a part of it but she was also happy that her grandbaby wasn't hurt or anything like that "Oh, Farrah" she moved her daughter off her and cupped her face "Baby what do you mean you don't know what to do?"

"I just—I am so sad, mama. She—I wanted more for her. I wanted her to leave this place and go somewhere and make something of herself—I didn't want this"

"Farrah Grace Raudenfeld—"

"Mama, it's Cooper"

"Not when I'm talking to you, it's not" Kathleen looked her daughter in the eye "Farrah Grace _Raduenfeld_ —you will, and I mean it, you will help your baby through this. You will hold her hand and you will hold her if she cries and you will finally be the mama she deserves"

"but mama—I just—I don't know how to react"

"You're mad, Farrah" Kathleen said in a 'duh' tone "I was mad as hell when you told me you were pregnant but you were already an adult so there wasn't much I could do but Amy is still a baby—you are going to go home and love your child, Farrah" she took her hands off her daughter's face "You are going to love your baby"

Farrah nodded "I do love her, mama. That's not the problem"

"the problem is you're mad well, honey, get over it—she made the choice now it's your job to be a mother and support your baby so she's not alone" Kathleen put a finger under Farrah's chin and made her raise her head to make eye contact "You hear me, girl?"

Farrah nodded "Okay, mama"

 **x**

Amy's sobs reduced to whimpers and soon after that she passed out, her body giving in to the complete and utter exhaustion that it felt. Liam slowly and very carefully moved his hand and body so that he could grab his phone, he jostled Amy a bit but it seemed she was too deep to care.

He unlocked his phone and quickly dialed Lauren's number, not bothering with text "Hello?" Lauren's voice came through within the first two rings and he could hear the worry.

"hey" she could hear the exhaustion in his

"What happened?"

"Her mom—" he sighed "it was weird. Amy was stuttering and once she was finally out with it, she didn't say anything she just—she just left"

Lauren didn't talk for a second before "God damn it"

"I don't know what to do"

"Where's Amy?"

"asleep"

"asleep?"

"She was crying pretty hard and she just kinda passed out"

Lauren sighed "You're with her though, right?"

"yeah"

"okay, don't leave. I'm on my way" he didn't get to say 'bye' being Lauren was quick to end the conversation. He sighed and threw his phone next to him, he looked at the girl who was still holding onto his shirt and, even though it was a bad time for her, he felt content.

Having Lauren, Amy and the baby (even if the baby was still in Amy) made him feel content and like he could finally, maybe, be happy and let someone in. someone who wouldn't lie to him or screw him over.

And while he felt content, he knew Amy was far from so he just sighed, held onto her tightly and promised both her and their child that he'd do anything to help make them content. To help make them happy.

 **x**

Farrah sat outside of her own home for ten minutes. She was parked, the car wasn't running and she could begin to feel the sweat dripping down her forehead but she still didn't move.

Her mother's words rang in her ears and she knew the woman was right—Amy made her choice and now it was time for Farrah to be a good mother and support her.

So with a deep sigh she opened her car door and stepped outside only to be stopped by a very small blonde—Lauren.

"Hold it right there" Lauren put her hand out "Why are you going inside?"

"Because I live there now move" she moved to go around Lauren but the girl just took a step to the side

"No—I need specifics because I won't let you go in there and hurt Amy" there was a fire in Lauren's eyes and Farrah knew that look—it was the look of love. The two girls obviously bonded over something and finally, actually, loved each other like sisters should.

And Farrah wasn't an idiot—she knew what that 'something' was.

"You know" she stated dumbly "You know my baby is pregnant"

"I knew before she did" Lauren shrugged "that's not the point though—you are going to tell me why you're going in there or you aren't going inside"

"Lauren , don't be ridiculous " Farrah moved to go around Lauren again but, once again, the blonde just simply blocked her path

"I need to know what you're gonna do to her—I need to know if you're gonna go in there and be a good mother or if you're gonna go in there and make me hate you" she points to the house "I need to know so she can be taken care of—so tell me"

Farrah sighed and crossed her arms "Amy's made a choice and—" she raised her head and swallowed the anger she felt "and it's my job as her mother to support it"

Once again Farrah moved around Lauren and this time the blonde didn't stop her.

 **x**

Farrah felt tears prick her eyes at the scene in front of her. Amy was laid out on the couch, her hand all fisted up in Liam's shirt and her face blotchy from crying. She let out a deep sigh and walked over, she fell to her knees and moved hair away from her sleeping daughter's face "Oh, Amy" she sighed out "I'm sorry, baby. Mama is sorry" she looked at Liam who was eyeing her and she nodded "It's okay. she's okay here. You can go"

"I don't think—"

"Liam!" they both turned to see Lauren standing in the doorway "Come on, you feed me while she sorts her shit out" he looks at Farrah one last time before slipping out from under Amy as best he can and following the short blonde out the door.

Farrah waits till she hears the door click shut that she softly shakes Amy's shoulder "Amy, baby, wake up" she speaks softly "Come on, honey"

Eventually Amy's eyes slowly crack open, she pushes herself up and looks around and her eyes land on her mother and at first she's fine and then it all comes back to her and Amy grows stiff under her mother's eyes

"I—"

"I'm sorry, Amy" Farrah says quickly and softly, she gets up from the floor and sits beside Amy "I'm so sorry I walked out. I just didn't know how to react, you know? I just—I need a second"

Amy looks down and Farrah feels anger dissipate and guilt come in—she had hurt her baby. Her only baby and it looked like Amy didn't trust her mother "Just—please look at me, Amy" the younger blonde doesn't and Farrah sighs

"I'm sorry, sweetheart—I just—you told me you were pregnant and I felt like every dream I had for you died. I felt so sad and just—just angry"

"You don't think I'm sad?" Amy looks up at Farrah sees the fresh tears "Mom, I'm sixteen years old and pregnant—of course I'm sad. I'm sad that my life has just been drastically changed, I'm sad that I was so stupid to make this mistake and I'm so sad that my mother feels like I'm never going to do anything with my life now" Farrah inhales sharply "I'm sad too, mom"

Farrah reaches over, slowly and grabs Amy's hands. A shaky smiles settles on her face as she locks eyes with her daughter "We shouldn't be sad, baby. A baby is a blessing and—and despite what either of us thinks, I know you and I know you won't let this stop you from doing whatever you want in life"

Amy sighs "I just—I need you, mom" she squeezes her mother's hands "I need my mom"

Farrah smiles and gathers her daughter in her arms, gently rocking her "I'm right here, baby. You got me, Amy. You got me"

 **x**

 _ **Any questions? Or anything just drop a review and I will address it in the next chapter. Also guys, I appreciate every review I get but; can you please update? That just seems really pushy. If I don't update this story it's because something is keeping me from doing so. I don't just forget, so please be patient and be kind. Not pushy.**_

 _ **Also you can find my on tumblr at josephinewilson dot tumblr dot com**_


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